Our journey began from the somewhat unusual tourist destination Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Donetsk is dominated by mining and heavy industry and there are very few tourist attractions in the city. The only thing I knew about this place was
1. The winners of the 2009 UEFA Cup, FC Shakhtar Donetsk is based out of here
2. This was pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka's hometown

After Donetsk we went to the city Yalta on Crimea. Yalta is a seaside resort next to the Black Sea that for decades has been a popular holiday destination. Today there are mostly Ukrainians, Russians and others from the former Soviet Union who visit Yalta. A few westerners also come here but they are easily outnumbered by the Russians.